ONLINE UPDATE: Dredge contractor requests extension into June

by Cole Dittmer

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

On Monday, May
19, Wrightsville Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction project dredge contractor Weeks
Marine and the United States Army Corps of Engineers assessed that the project
would not be complete by the original projected date of May 31.

In an email to
Wrightsville Beach town manager Tim Owens and other officials, USACE biologist
Jeff Richter stated a 13-day extension of the sea turtle environmental window
was requested after already receiving an extension until May 31. That new
extension would set the end date for the project on June 13.

Previously Weeks
Marine had mentioned a possible completion date prior to the start of Memorial
Day weekend on Friday, May 23.

Richter stated
that Weeks Marine will continue to monitor sea turtle impacts and the impacts
to the skimmers and oystercatchers nesting on the south end of Wrightsville
Beach. There has been no sea turtle activity in the project work area as of May
19, he stated.

Wrightsville
Beach town manager Tim Owens said the contractor was about five days behind the
original schedule. Although he did not know the exact cause of the delay, Owens
said it most likely had to do with the larger amount of sand needed on the
beach than what was anticipated.

If the extension
is granted Owens said it would not change the way the town has handled beach
traffic interacting with the project.

Stay tuned for
the full article out in the May 22 edition of Lumina News.

email cole@luminanews.com

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